>> "US tax revenue per-person is pretty much in the middle of western Europe." > Not really. The OECD average is 36%, Americans pay 28% and no western European

>> "US tax revenue per-person is pretty much in the middle of western Europe." > Not really. The OECD average is 36%, Americans pay 28% and no western European states pay less. Yes really. American's pay 28% on a larger number, so the amount of money per person is basically the same. BTW - you're ignoring corporate taxes, which are a significant fraction of revenues. They don't actually change the equivalence but they do increase the "revenues per person-year" number. > nominal terms the US may be higher, but I don't really see that that proves anything. Actually, it does. > The main problem is of course that so much has to be paid for by the individual in the US that is efficiently taken care of by the state in Europe, so comparing tax rates misses a big part of the issue. I'm not comparing tax rates. I'm comparing tax revenues per person. You're pointing out that western Europeans get more for the same amount of money. Combining those two facts tells us that a tax dollar goes further in western Europe than it does in the US. If the US govt wants to provide the same benefits, it either needs more money per person than European govts or it needs to take the relevant amount of money from its other expenditures.